Flowers In The Sky
by tokiya
Summary: After Makishima had been arrested, Akane gave her Enforcer a piece of her mind. Not in an angry way, though. Set after the final episode.


Disclaimer : The characters of Psycho-Pass belong to Production I.G. and Funimation.

Summary : After Makishima had been arrested, Akane gave her Enforcer a piece of her mind. Not in an angry way, though. Set after the last episode before Ginoza became an Enforcer.

Ukataka Hanabi (Supercell)

* * *

After the Hyper-oats Incident, things have been relatively peaceful.

Except for the eternal absence of three of his friends, whose deaths had all been caused by a single person.

In the end, he had let Makishima live. The cunning pervert had looked so happy at the moment he had been about to pull the trigger, and that infuriating look of contentment had changed his mind. For Makishima, who despised Sibyl System with all his soul, whatever the villain was forced to do for the damn system now was probably worse than going to the deepest pit in hell.

In contrast to the doomed fate of his long-time enemy, he had never seen his little inspector happier than the moment she had learned about his final decision. That probably had something to do with why he had been mysteriously and unconditionally accepted back into the system which not long before had been obsessively trying to get rid of his existence. Until he could find out why, his instinct would not be satisfied.

When he thought about it, that probably had been the first time he was hugged by a woman other than his mother. He could still remember the warmth of her small frame against him, and the telltale wetness on his shirt where she had buried her face.

After being branded 'latent criminal' for many years, it had felt strange to know that there existed someone who cared so much about him.

Realizing he had been staring at his monitor for the past twenty minutes, Kougami blinked and mentally shook his head. At this rate, he would not finish all the reports by tonight.

Now the clock in the almost empty office of division one had ticked past midnight. There was only one person left besides him. He wondered whether his inspector could go home safely at such late hours.

Finally, he could hear Akane gather her things. As she was about to walk past his desk, her footsteps stopped. Did she forget something?

"Kougami-san, I'm giving you permission to go outside."

Kougami looked up from his computer. For a tiniest moment, his mind went blank. What the hell?

"...Huh?"

Her cheeks tinging pink, she suddenly found the floor at his feet interesting. "I-I mean, if you'd like to go with me."

Kougami stared at her blankly as an awkward silence fell between them. The ticking sound of the clock suddenly became very loud to his ears.

"Inspector, are you asking me out for a date?"

Akane spluttered, her eyes quickly returning to his face. " N-No!"

His brow went up.

Now her face was tomato red. "It's just that... my friend suddenly cancelled our promise to go see the fireworks on Sunday, and I don't want to go alone."

"Why don't you ask Gino? Won't it be more convenient for you?"

Her face fell a bit. "I don't think he'd be interested in such things.

It seemed she had thought about that alternative already. So was he her third choice then?

His face darkened subtly at the thought. "You can just go next summer then."

"But it's going to be a rare display of real fireworks, not the usual hologram! I don't know when the next time will be."

Now that piqued his interest. Real fireworks? He had never seen one before. "Hmm..."

Staring down at him with her big, innocent eyes, she asked again. "Please?"

Oh no. Here came 'The Eyes' again. Cursing womanly wiles in general, he sighed. "I have nothing better to do anyway."

Her happy smile almost blinded him; Kougami blinked several times.

"Thank you, Kougami-san! You're so sweet! I'll come and pick you up at 5 then."

Well that felt strange, being picked up by a girl on their supposed date. Not that he was serious about it anyway.

...Right?

* * *

_"I'm really sorry, Akane, but..."_

_"Someone has asked you out, right?"_

_"Well..." _

_She could picture the normally calm Koari blushing on the other end of the line. They __rarely met nowadays, opting for the phone instead; the absence of their long-gone friend was too painful. _

_"It's alright, Kaori. This is a special occasion. We can meet any other time, ne?" She knew that was not quite true, but if this was the chance for her friend to find happiness, then she was okay with it. _

_"Thank you, Akane. I'll make it up to you later."_

_"Don't worry about it. It's time to find some romance in your life now, isn't it?"_

_"Akane!"_

_She laughed softly. _

_"How about you? Don't you have someone you want to go with?"_

_Now it's her turn to blush as a certain person came to mind. "Well..."_

_Kaori voice took a sly edge now. "Don't tell me it's that subordinate of yours."_

_She nearly choked out the orange juice she was sipping._

_"It seems I've hit the bull's eye. Why don't you ask him out?"_

_"I don't even know if he's interested in someone like me..."_

_"Someone like you!? Seriously, how could any man ask for more?"_

_Akane sighed. "I don't know, Kaori. He's just so... perfect. In every way."_

_"Then that means you're made just for each other. Give it a try, Akane. I think you might be surprised."_

Her conversation with Kaori a few days ago replayed in her mind as she gazed at the beautiful dance of colors across the sky above. Hot, burning streaks of light rippled across the ocean of darkness before fading away, leaving only fragile memories in those who shared the moment together.

She stole a glance at the man beside her. Kougami was lying with his hands laced behind his head at a respectable distance. The grasses by the river bank were cold under her hand, calming down her racing heart. Biting her lips nervously, she carefully considered how to say what she had been thinking in the last few days without embarrassing herself too much.

"Don't you think our lives are just like those fireworks?"

"Hmm?" His tone could be easily mistaken for disinterest, but Akane knew better.

"We shine for only a small moment in time, and then we fade away."

His gaze was still fixed at the dark sky, now dotted here and there with blinking stars. "It's too bad that some of us were forced to fade away in a most cruel way."

Akane glanced at his silhouette. At the moment, Sasayama was probably on his mind. When would he be able to let go? Why couldn't he just focus on what was in front of him now?

"I think it's sort of a miracle, that out of many places and times, we happened to be shining in the same place at the same moment, sharing our glorious time before both fade away."

Gathering her courage, she finally whispered out what had always been on her mind.

"I'm happy that I've met you, Kougami-san. If I were to live this life again, I wouldn't choose any other path."

Even in the dark, she could see him stiffen subtly. Did he really understand what she meant? If he did, what was he thinking?

Nervously waiting for him to say something to break the deafening silence that separated them, she could hear her heart pounding in her ears.

After what she felt like a small eternity, he sat up and directed his gaze to her.

"I'm glad I've met you too, Akane."

Hearing her first name fell from his lips so smoothly, so _naturally_, she felt her face heat up. Her heart skipped many beats at the look in his eyes. Akane thought she might faint any moment now.

"You remind me of who I used to be. Who I wished to be."

He reached out to ruffle her short hair. She nervously stiffened at his touch.

"Without you, I must have lost myself. ...Thank you."

Warmth blossomed within her as she felt her eyes prickle with burning heat, threatening to glaze over, but she blinked it back. That must have been the closest thing to opening himself up she'd ever get from him.

Playfully swatting his hand away, she said, "I'm also what I am now because of you, Kougami-san. That makes two of us, ne?"

He laughed softly. "So it seems."

"Don't fade away before I do."

"Only if you promise the same thing." The rare gentle curve on his lips was so mesmerizing. If only he would smile more often, she thought ruefully.

"Promise of a lifetime?" She stuck out her pinky finger at him, at which he looked amusedly surprise. When he just stared at her offered hand, she indignantly puffed out her cheeks.

Soft laughter escaped his lips again, warming up her heart. She hoped she could make him laugh more in the coming future. He had suffered enough for a lifetime already.

Hooking his little finger with her, probably just indulging her childish antics, he said what would forever be burned in her mind.

"Sure."


End file.
